Psoriasis and diabetes - association with VDR gene polymorphisms

The vitamin D receptor (VDR) provides a link between vitamin D, its metabolites and their beneficial effects in psoriasis, diabetes mellitus, and, more generally, autoimmune disorders. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the common VDR gene 3'-restriction variants on psoriasis vulgaris, diabetes mellitus and joint psoriasis-diabetes mellitus susceptibility in eastern Croatian population. A total of 140 subjects (35 with psoriasis and diabetes, 40 with psoriasis, 25 with diabetes mellitus and 40 healthy, ethnically matched controls) were genotyped for rs7975232 (ApaI), rs1544410 (BsmI) and rs731236 (TaqI) polymorphisms by polymerase chain reaction - RFLP method. In a case-control approach, none of the individual polymorphisms or haplotypes analyzed was associated with the risk for development of psoriasis, diabetes or combined phenotype. In conclusion, there is no major effect of the common genetic variations within the 3'-region of the VDR gene on the development of either psoriasis or diabetes mellitus. Further studies, encompassing larger data sets and denser marker panels are warranted.